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  Magna Graecia: Greek Art From South Italy and Sicily > About the Exhibition > Syracuse > Gorgon Tablet (about 610-590 BC)
 
 
<I>Gorgon Tablet, </I>610-590 B.C.<BR>Terracotta, H. 56, W 50, Inv. 34540, 34543, 34895
Gorgon Tablet (about 610-590 BC)
Syracuse, via Minerva, old temple of Athena
Terracotta, orange clay with inclusions, pale yellow-beige slip, mold-made, hand-finished, painted
Museo Archeologico Regionale "Paolo Orsi" di Siracusa, inv. 34540, 34543, 34895
[Cat. no. 50]

Gorgon Tablet (about 610-590 BC)

Wearing winged boots, her legs posed in a running position, the Gorgon Medusa is represented as a figure moving at great speed. She tucks one of her offspring, the winged horse Pegasus, under her right arm; she would have held her son, Chrysaor, with her left arm (see cat. no. 56). The image refers to the myth describing her death at the hands of Perseus. Four holes in the tablet suggest that it was once attached to a wooden support and functioned as a decorative element for a temple, altar or throne. Inspired by Corinthian architectural sculpture, this example is one of the earliest of its type in Sicily.

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